I think this looks bad, but it's got to do more than look bad. Is a rock concert a drop in the bucket compared to the savings they want, or are they genuinely comparable?
Fundamentally, it doesn't matter if it's irrelevant relative to total budget size, the simple fact is that if you promote a culture of one rule for me, and another for thee then you end up where people couldn't care less about the extra work you want them to do. And that costs you the money. Perception is reality and all that.
Like, it blows my mind that enough people at Amazon thought this was OK as they were laying off loads of people. Clearly the notion of frugality is pretty dead.
Doesn't really matter. If it's "a drop in the bucket", everyone in the company will think of potential savings in other areas as "a drop in the bucket". This means the cost reduction targets will never be reached. And when employees see and hear this, you'll start to notice it in their productivity as well.
You’re missing the point, which is that the upper execs failing to make any sacrifices while making everyone under them live in fear will make Amazon an objectively lower performing company as morale drops, the best workers leave, and infighting grows.
The fact that this part is objectively a drop in the bucket is how the execs justify it to themselves, but the fact is that Amazon didn’t need to have mass layoffs and doesn’t need to treat its workers with such disdain. Amazon has plenty of money. The parties the execs throw themselves are just one of a thousand ways they are taking that money they save by firing people and funneling it to themselves and the big investors rather than trying to improve the business itself. And it bodes poorly for the company in the long term, but none of the people involved care about that either.
I think part of the point is that it doesn’t matter. You can’t preach “frugality” and @we all need to pitch in” and then use private jets and rock concerts for the few at the top. It is hypocritical.
Fundamentally, it doesn't matter if it's irrelevant relative to total budget size, the simple fact is that if you promote a culture of one rule for me, and another for thee then you end up where people couldn't care less about the extra work you want them to do. And that costs you the money. Perception is reality and all that.
Like, it blows my mind that enough people at Amazon thought this was OK as they were laying off loads of people. Clearly the notion of frugality is pretty dead.